Worth the Trouble
by LightningDance
Summary: Therion Sylve was *this* close to qualify for the Elite Fighters in his guild, until that damn Elf came along. Enter Momo Izumi, an Acrobat who, in his opinion, is a pain in the ass. Along the way, he had to survive insults, beat ups, and embarrassment while she was his brand new partner. "Let's see if she's worth the trouble." (Rated T for some language and minor violence.)


**Haaaa, Dragon Nest fanfiction.**

**God, I haven't played this game in what, two years?**

**Ah, whatever. Like I said, this fic is dedicated to the most amazing Aemire and Kimura Yumi.**

**Hopefully it won't take me _forever_ to update like I did with my old Dragon Nest fic. (Which got deleted since I had to reformat my computer, and I had no back up whatsoever.)**

**Anyway, enough of me blabbering! To the story!**

* * *

Therion Sylve was one of the top Warriors in his guild. Actually, _the _top Warrior in his guild who hasn't made it into the Elites.

_Yet._

Just six more monsters to defeat, and he would be able to qualify.

How he ended up trapped in this horrible, _horrible_ mess, he will never know.

But what he _does _know is that it's all because of his partner.

_'Where the hell are you, you idiot?!'_

He rolled over, dodging the massive ax of the Minotaur. He quickly got up and ran to the nearly forgotten satchel with all their packed supplies.

_'According to the information Guild Master Evan provided us with, it should be dead in a few more hits with a normal hammer.'_

_'Mana potion, no...'_

Minotaur Vuruha roared and charged at the Mercenary, and sure enough, he got knocked down, but he quickly regained his composure and ran, grabbing the satchel and hid behind an old bookshelf.

_'Herbs, no..."_

He frantically searched through the bag for at least one tiny health potion.

'_More herbs, metal, seals, dammit! No health potions! We used all of them!'_

Little did he know that his not-so-little _"friend"_ had snuck behind him and roared and charged, knocking him down yet again. This time, he wasn't able to get back up.

_'Urgh... This is bad. This is really, really bad.'_

He looked up at the Minotaur who was just about to decapitate him. He closed his eyes as the Minotaur brought down its ax.

_'Never thought it would end like this.'_

It all started just a week ago, when a certain Elvish archer walk through the doors of their guild.

He had just walked into the guild master's study, and bowed his head in respect.

"Guild Master Evan. I take it that you requested for me to be here?"

Evan glanced up at Therion for a moment, then back to the papers he was reading.

"I have. Therion," he put the papers down and stood up, removing his glasses.

"What would you say about a special mission?"

A wide grin spread on Therion's face. Could this be his ticket into the Elite Fighters?

"I accept the mission, Sir Evan!"

"Good. Please walk in, Miss Izumi."

Just then, the doors opened wide to reveal an elvish girl. Green eyes and blonde hair tied into a ponytail, how most Elves in the guild looked like, in his opinion. She was wearing Archer's gear. Pretty damn good ones in his opinion.

"I take it that this is my client? What's her request, sir?"

"Therion, this may be one of your biggest missions. Are you ready to know her request?"

Therion nodded and put on a determined face.

"Yes sir. I will accept this mission and I will complete this mission, no matter what. And if anything goes wrong, I will take full responsibility."

"Good. Because starting today..." he motioned to the girl.

"You will be Momo Izumi's partner."

The girl, now known as "Momo", smiled and waved to him.

"Awesome! Thanks so much- Wait, **_what_**!?" his smiling face turned into a unpleasantly surprised one.

"Sir, you know that I could work alone! Miss Adelaide said I'm the best Warrior who hasn't made it into the Elites yet! Having a partner would just weigh me down!" he protested, his anger growing with each word.

"Therion, you just vowed to accept this mission, and I quote: "No matter what.". If you and Momo here are a succsessful team, you will _both_ be able to qualify for the Elite Fighters. Am I clear?"

Therion grumbled something along the lines of "Stupid elf...", to which Momo glared at him for with a look of _"Okay. You're my first target."_

Evan sensed the high tension in the air caused by the two fighters and sighed.

"I said, am I clear?"

"Fine. But I'm not being friendly with her."

As Evan was about to say something, Momo slammed her fists on the table.

"Looks like I'm not going to be friendly with you either." the two seemed to be having a glare-off, and neither was winning. One was just as intense as the other.

Evan sighed and cleared his throat.

"Anyway. Momo, thank you for joining our guild. You have exceptional abilities. Hopefully," he wore his glasses yet again.

"You two will be able to get along. You two_ will _be teammates after all."

"Understood." the two responded simultaneously.

"Good. Your first mission as a pair will start tomorrow. Here are the details."

A few papers were slid in front of them. Momo picked half of it, while Therion took the other half.

"Thank you for your time and acceptance into the guild, Master Evan. And thank you for this absolutely _wonderful_ partner." Momo sneered at the last part, projecting it rather sarcastically.

"Yes, thank you for letting me work with such a _beautiful and talented _partner." Therion fires back with a sarcastic edge to his tone as well.

One side of her mouth curled into a half-smile.

"Thank you for the compliment."

"Okay, now off you go! Therion, I trust you that you will show Momo around." the two of them nod and were just about to leave.

"Ah, I almost forgot something!" The Elf and the Mercenary turned around.

"You two will be sharing rooms."

Just when Momo and Therion were about to protest, Evan pushed them out of the study.

"Have a nice day!"

The door slammed behind them. They turned to each other, still glaring. Therion reluctantly reached out a hand. Momo grabbed it and gripped it rather tightly. Just a little _too_ tight than Therion expected; or preferred. She agressively shook it, and he followed suit.

_'For an archer, she has a strong grip.'_

They both let go. Therion turned to bump into a certain _*cougharrogantcough_* Paladin, known as Aaron.

"Ah, hello there, Therion. I see that you've met the newbie, hm?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I have. Worst thing that happened to me yet."

Momo rolled her eyes and reached out a hand to Aaron.

"Momo Izumi. Archer, Acrobat Class. Trained under Master Archer Ithilien back in Saint Haven."

Aaron took her hand and shook it.

"Aaron Ark. A Paladin, of course. What is your relation to Therion here?"

Therion stepped forward and crossed his arms.

"Unfortunately for me, I'm her new partner. Wish I could have gotten Lily. I swear, that Sorceress is one of the top candidates for the Elite Fighters," he paused to sigh.

"And she gets stuck with you."

Aaron laughed for a bit.

"I think she should be happy when she got "stuck" with me. After all, I'm one of the Top Fighters here, not to mention the most good looking!"

Therion rolled his eyes.

_'How am I friends with this guy?'_

"I don't see why you dislike the newbie so much," he took a good long look at the freshly joined Acrobat.

"She doesn't seem too bad. Almost like an angel, to be honest."

Before Momo could say anything, Therion quickly stepped in.

"Keyword: "Seem". Don't judge a book by it's cover dude. This girl is a demon wearing an angel's mask."

"You know, that's a lot of figures of speech you said there. Well, you only used two of them. Just let him decide for himself, and we'll see how it turns out." Momo remarked.

She turned away from the two and stretched.

"Mm... I'm tired from the trip from Saint Haven. Calderock isn't _exactly_ nearby." She turned to Therion and slung the satchel she was carrying with her over her shoulder.

"Hey, mind showing us where our room is?"

"Fine. Just hang on for a bit-" Aaron grabbed Therion's shoulder and pulled him closer to him.

"Wait, you two are sharing a room? Dang, and I thought I was lucky with Lily being my partner." he looked at Aaron questioningly.

"Wait, what? I thought partners shared rooms. The whole time I was here."

"Where'd you hear that? Only a handful of partners share rooms, dude. The place is nearly filled with potential Elite Fighters, Therion."

Therion groaned and slapped his forehead.

"Space issues? Really?" sighing, he turned around.

"Well, there's nothing I could do about it, sadly. Hey Elf, just follow me-"

The space Momo was previously occupying was now empty. She had wandered off by herself to search for their room. Therion internally celebrated for her sudden disappearance.

"Yes! She finally left!"

Aaron looked at Therion as if he was insane.

"Therion. You live right next to that crazy Alchemist and Engineer pair, remember?"

"Yeah? What about them?"

Aaron raised an eyebrow. When Therion couldn't process the whole thing he sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"They play with their bombs and potions at this hour, I believe,"

"And?"

"And I'm pretty sure that newbie has _absolutely no idea_ about it."

Therion laughed and leaned on his hammer.

"I'm positive that the Elf can handle herself. How else can she get in? And she's on her own for today. Well, see you, Aaron." Therion chuckled before walking away to the training grounds of Calderock Village, where he surprisingly saw Momo shoot arrows into targets, and hitting very close to the center and a few bullseyes.

"What the- I thought you were looking for my room!" he exclaimed as she hit another bullseye. She raised an eyebrow as she took another arrow from her quiver.

"You mean _our_ room." she inserts the arrow in her bow and aims for the bullseye before she began speaking again.

"Well, I figured that I didn't need to rest since there'll be plenty of time for that later. I decided to train instead." she explained, one eye shut and taking a deep breath, just about to shoot an arrow.

A smirk made its way onto Therion's face. He screamed. "Crisis Howl" as the other Mercenaries liked to call it. His plan instantly worked, startling Momo and making her miss her mark and the target itself, shooting a nearby tree instead. She was obviously angry, with her turning around and glaring at a laughing Therion, it was obvious. She seemed to be very composed though.

"Ever heard of "The Golden Rule", Mercenary?"

Therion raised an eyebrow.

"The Golden Rule? Never heard of it." Momo rolled her eyes.

"Geez, I wonder if that hammer is big enough to knock some intelligence into your head, because it definitely seems like it isn't strong enough."

He glared at the Acrobat for her insult.

"Very funny, Elf. Now move over so I can practice."

Momo did so, but she already had a plan forming in her head. As Therion was practicing his swings and kicks, she smirked and found out his pattern right away.

_'Stomp, Punishing Swing, Flying Swing, Circle Swing... There!'_

Momo shot a stringed arrow from her bow while Therion was executing his "Whirlwind Swing", making the string tie itself around him and throwing his hammer away. He struggled to get out of the string as Momo was in hysterics.

"Pfffff_ahahahahahaha!_ You should've seen your sorry face!" she took a few minutes to laugh as Therion had finally gotten out of the tangle of string.

"Not funny, Elf."

"Well, I find it entertaining, and so did a few people who saw your little spin there," she snickered between words. Looking at the small crowd behind them, they were snickering due to seeing one of the top fighters of the *****Lejian Guild being outclassed by a newbie.

"Guess that proves my poin about what goes around, comes around. _Literally_."

Therion glared at her and cracked his knuckles.

_'It's on now, Elf.'_

**-=Lejian Guild, Therion and Momo's Room, [Evening]=-**

"Haaa, I'm so tired..." Momo sighed as she walked into the room.

Therion has not stopped glaring at her the whole day after that little "incident" in the training grounds.

_'Why did they have to put the Training Grounds so close to the Village Square? Someone could get hurt.'_

He was lost in his own thoughts, so he didn't see Momo plop into the bed next to the wall on the right, far away from the window.

"Mm, this bed is soft..."

He snapped out of his thoughts and noticed Momo settled in, and ready to hit the hay. She's already changed out of her gear, leaving her in a plain, green shirt and brown leggings.

"Hey, that's where I sleep!" Therion protested.

"Not anymore. You snooze, you lose." she mumbled before falling asleep on the spot.

_"You snooze, you lose, huh?" _he mumbled.

**-=Leijan Guild, Therion and Momo's Room, [Early Morning]=-**

Momo woke up to the sunlight streaming from the window. Wait.

She didn't sleep next to the window. She was on the other side of the room.

She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She found herself in the bed next to the window.

"What the-"

She turned to the side and saw Therion sleeping in her previous bed. Momo abruptly stood up, walked to the sleeping figure of Therion, hopped on the bed, and jumped directly on his stomach.

"Oof! _*gasp*_ Argh, what the hell was that for, you damn Elf?!" he had the breath knocked out of him as she stepped down from his bed.

"I was sleeping here last night! How'd I end up there!?" she pointed to the bed next to the window. He turned away

"Mmph, I carried you. Simple as that," he yawned before continuing his sentence.

"Besides, you snooze, you lose right? It's what you said."

Momo narrowed her eyes at him and placed her hands on her hips.

_'I swear, I will get back at you for this."_

If there's one thing Momo hates the most, it's when she gets her own words used against her.

The whole week summarized was an exchange of arguments and embarrassment. The only time Therion and Momo were able to work together is when they're doing missions. Other than that, they hated each other with a burning passion at this point. Their last mission of the week is defeating the Minotaur Vuruha in the Inner Catacombs.

"This will be the first and easiest of the monsters you have to defeat to qualify for the elites. Good luck, Therion. Momo, good luck."

The two nodded, only a satchel and their gear to bring with them.

"Remember, you have to cooperate!"

**-=Inner Catacombs, [Present Time]=-**

Therion braces for the impact of the ax, but it never came. When he opened his eyes, the Minotaur wasn't moving, the ax just mere inches from his face. And in the Minotaur's right eye...

Was an arrow imbued with magical energy.

_"Momo, you beautiful bastard." _he mumbled as a smirk curled up on his lips.

* * *

***Leijan is a play on words from "leaf" I made up. I just removed the "f".**

**Aaaand that's a wrap! Did you guys enjoy the story or something? Because I wasted 2 months to plan this thing, not to mention one whole day without sleep to type all of this and proofread it two or three times.**

**Anyway, until next time!**

**Sparky out!**


End file.
